Dead Normal
by MellyHorror-Salvatore-Northman
Summary: DADR Contest Entry. Picks up right after DR, basically a way to finish the book. Eric find a way out of the deal his maker made, and works out his issues with Sookie. Rated T, S/E S/Pfriendship


**Dead After Dead Reckoning Contest Entry  
>Title: Dead Normal<br>Characters: Sookie Stackhouse, Pam, Eric Northman, Bill Compton, Dermot, Sam  
>Word Count: 3,335 <strong>

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, I am writing to play with the characters and not for profit.  
>Summary: Picks up right after DR, basically a way to finish the book. Eric find a way out of the deal his maker made, and works out his issues with Sookie.<strong>

**Rated: T**

I guess I'd assumed I'd known Eric's choice since the night I had the discussion with Bill, I'd known he would be right-sort of. Eric loved beauty, freedom, and power. But standing here now it all fell into place. He loved power, but not the responsibility of being King. He loved freedom, and being a Sheriff gave him more freedom then being King or a random vampire.

But I guess I hadn't thought it through, until now when I was standing in my kitchen, staring wide-eyed at my 'husband', Jeopardy blaring in the other room, "You _what?_" I asked, my voice hitting a shrill note.

"I said, I found a way out of it. The Queen needed someone she could put into place in her favor. She didn't need me; she needed someone she could control. I found a vampire that could fill that position and worked it out. I would never leave you, or my position of Sheriff."

"Who did you find?" I asked, racking my brain to think of who it could be. Then it dawned on me just who Eric so obviously offered up, "You didn't." I stated my voice level, surprising me.

"Everyone agreed it was a wise idea. He is quite the weasel and good at tricking; he even said he'd go. He is tired of being stuck here, and wishes you to be happy. He says me being here would accomplish that, as much as it pained him to offer."

"But, it's Bill!" I yelped, "Wait, he offered?"

"Of course. He said and I quote, "Sookie would be much happier with you here without the threat of death, more so than usual, hanging over your head. But don't hurt her"." Eric said it with a mocking voice that was scarily accurate to how Bill's sounded.

"Eric, do _you_ want to be here? I don't want you stuck here because you think it will make me happy." I leaned on my palms on the table top, locking eyes with him. He mocked my stance.

"I want to be with you. For as long as I can. That will make _me _happy." He pauses, "I have a proposition for you. How about we start over, I will not have you unhappy. Tonight we will go over everything that troubles us about our current relationship and work it out, and then start over. No more trickery, no more nonsense. I love you Sookie, and I want us to be together willingly and happy."

I stared at him, utterly bewildered, "give me some time to think about this, please. Tomorrow night we can discuss this, for now I just want to sit down and relax, _alone._" He nods, walks over and hugs me, kissing the top of my head.

"I will see you tomorrow evening, goodnight Sookie." He's gone with a whoosh of air, and I'm left standing alone in my kitchen. I pop some popcorn, go to the living room and rewind the episode of Jeopardy, letting my shields drop down, my mind numb and focusing on the questions until it was over.

Then I headed upstairs, filled my tub and sunk into it, relaxing music playing in the background, how was I supposed to create a list of things that bugged me about our relationship, besides what was our relationship, really?

I closed my eyes and let my head rest on the side of my tub. For one, the marriage and trickery to get our bond. The second was that he was wishy-washy about how he viewed our relationship. Another was the way he kept everything from me. We would need to be honest with each other. Brutally honest. I needed, and deserved at least that.

I crawled into bed, wondering what else he had been keeping from me. How much had I kept from him? I let my eyes fall closed and slumber over took my thoughts. I was out before 10:30 came around.

I woke up at noon the next day to work my shift from noon to 8 at Merlotte's, when I actually arrived I was shocked to find the bar busy, I looked around puzzled and then went to Sam's office to put my purse away, "Hey Sam, business picked up. Did Vic's close or something?" I joked.

"Yeah, they did. Burnt to the ground actually."

"_What_?" I asked, my jaw falling to the floor.

"Someone burnt it down two nights ago. So all the business has returned here. Hurry up and get out there before one of the waitresses gets too flustered." I nodded, put my purse away and scampered out.

The day was busy, the stream of people was heavy, and around 7:30 the flow slowed down. I was happy for the change of pace, it allowed me to rest by the bar and talk with Sam.

"So how has Jannalynn been?" I asked, as some way to start a conversation.

"She's good Sook, she's busy tracking someone down so I haven't seen her lately. How's Eric?" I knew talking about Eric was as painful for him as asking about Jannalynn was for me.

"Well, to be honest I don't know. I'd have to tell you tomorrow. He said he wanted to start over, after we talked about what went wrong on both of our ends. I guess we'll see if we clash heads or not tonight." I babbled, then went on to talk about Jason, Tara and other things, which made Sam more comfortable then Eric.

Between serving and talk to Sam I hardly noticed that I had worked an hour extra then I was supposed to, at 9 I said my goodbyes and skipped out the door to my car. Eric called and said that he'd be over around midnight, so by the time I got home I had a few hours to myself.

I cleaned dirty dishes, checked the Dermot would be okay if I had Eric over, he finished up what he was doing and left with a kiss on the cheek goodbye, and then I cleaned up my kitchen and jumped in the shower.

The air outside was nice so I decided on a sun dress and opened the windows to let the cool air into my house. It smelled nice outside, faintly like night blooming jasmine. It was relaxing.

Around eleven decided to eat dinner, I made two burgers and a salad, and I was finishing up the dishes when Eric's red corvette pulled up out front. The damn driveway, I mentally added that to my list of things.

"Good evening Eric!" I smiled as he walked in.

He smiled back, seeming to be in a good mood as well, "good evening Sookie. You look radiant."

I turned to face him and the breath left my body. He was in a pair of lighter jeans and a white t-shirt, it made him look…amazing. More so than normal. I would never peg him as a white wearer, but it looked damn good on him.

We crossed into my living room, I sat in the armchair and Eric sat on the couch, the silence filled the room. Neither of us knew what to say, finally Eric spoke, "how about we start with things I've done that have bothered you?"

"Alright, for one the trickery, the blood bond and the marriage. I know they were for my own good, but I really don't like be tricked like that. I don't like that you feel you need to trick me for my own safety." He nodded, and didn't say anything so I continued, "and the lying, like the thing with the Queen, I would have been happier had you told me instead of having to figure it out on my own."

"I apologize for not telling you about it, I was just concerned about it, and I didn't want you to worry." He interrupted, "now it is my turn, I don't like that you broke the bond behind my back. I understand you were confused about whether or not the bond was making you feel, but I was extremely frightened when it broke, I had thought you were dead."

The fact that Eric admitted he was scared made me smile a little bit, "I'm really sorry I did that, I just wanted to not change my mind before it happened. I don't like that you always buy me things, I appreciate that you want to buy things for me, but I would really rather just save the money and fix things, like my driveway, on my own. Cute surprise gifts once in awhile aren't mine, but I feel as if you were trying to buy me."

"I didn't realize. I will keep this in mind, and try and make sure you don't feel like I'm trying to buy you." He conceded.

"Good." I paused, "I want us to tell each other everything. Everything. Anything important, we need to tell each other. I hate being kept in the dark. It annoys me and makes me feel like I'm beneath you instead of your equal. And don't make Pam keep secrets like that; it's not fair to her."

Eric was oddly silent now, and I too fell silent, waiting for him to speak. He didn't for awhile and then he shifted, "alright. But one thing. I want us to go on dates, normal dates. I want to spend time with you as if we were a human couple. I understand that might make us a bit more…happy then if we were as we are now. We see each other once in awhile and then nothing. I don't want a purely physical relationship with you, though I still want that part of the relationship."

I giggled, despite myself, "Eric, you sound like a human." He glowered at me, and I giggled even harder before I stood up, crossed the room and stood in front of him, "I agree to these terms, so let's go somewhere. And do something. Now. Tonight."

"I was hoping you'd agree. They are having a drive in showing of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Would you like to go?"

"Of course I would." I grabbed his hand and he walked me to the car, opened to door and drove down the road, I had never actually seen the original movie, mostly because it hardly ever played on TV, so I was excited to see it, and see it with Eric.

I guess starting over was a good idea. We sat on a blanket outside the car, snuggled together watching the movie. It was funny, and an amazing night. After we stopped so I could have ice cream and Eric had a TruBlood.

"Pam was wondering if you'd like to go on shopping trip with her, she's been dying to go to the store. You aren't obligated to go or anything, but I'd love if you would. Otherwise she'll drag me." He winced at the thought.

"I wouldn't mind, I'd love to go shopping. How come she can't ask me herself?"

"She wanted to let us have the night to ourselves, and if she waited until tomorrow she knew you might be busy." He shrugged, finishing off his TruBlood and tossing it in the recycling bin.

I finished off my cone and we got back in the car, talking away about a lot of things. I had a smile on my face as we walked up to my door, Eric paused outside and bent down giving me a gentle kiss, "Good night Sookie, I will see you soon." And just like that he was gone.

I unlocked the door and stepped in, locked the door, checked the windows and crawled into bed, my eyes falling closed. Once again sleep pulled me down and I dreamed about having a picnic in the sun with Eric.

I woke up the next morning at 10 am, I could hear Dermot coming in and after I showered and dressed I went to find him upstairs, "I wont be home tonight, so you'll have the place to yourself."

"Going out with Eric again?" he called back.

"No, I'm going out with Pam. I'm going to be in the yard doing some work if you need me!" I skipped down the stairs and made myself some eggs and orange juice before going out to mow the lawn and tend to the garden.

I had the same stupid smile on my face the rest of the day, even at work with the random disgusting thoughts breaking through my shield, and by the time Pam arrived I was bouncing with excitement, when was the last time I'd been shopping?

"Good evening my telepathic friend." Pam greeted when I got into the passenger seat, "ready to go shopping?"

"Yes." I replied, grinning at her, she smiled back at me and took off toward Monroe. I turned on the radio half way there, and Pam and I sung along, really off key, to the songs that came on.

I guess my whole life wasn't one big 'someone's trying to kill me' moment. Times like these were so few and far between I wanted to savor every moment of them, and I did. Pam and I spent a good 4 hours trying on outfits and going in and out of almost every store at the mall.

When we were ready to leave I had four bags of new outfits, Pam had 8 and we stopped at McDonalds before getting into her car. It was 4:30, there was no way we were making it to my house before dawn.

"Pam, we can't make it back to my house before the sunrises." I voiced my concern.

"It's okay, my home is not far away, would you be opposed to spending the day there and accompanying me to Fangtasia in the evening."

"Not at all." I replied honestly, I called Dermot to let him know I wouldn't be home and then started coming up with ideas about Pam's house. She told me it was one of the three she owned and it was the smallest.

If it was the smallest, I decided, I really wanted to see the biggest. It was at least 3 times the size of my house. The inside was breathtaking, and homey. The walls were a soft beige throughout the downstairs and the guest room she let me use was painted a light purple with matching drapery and bed sheets. The bathroom was a darker blue and had a huge shower, a toilet and three sinks with a large ceiling to floor mirror.

After saying goodnight to Pam I crawled into her bed and fell asleep almost instantly, not waking until 5 the next evening. Pam had invited me to explore and told me her kitchen had been stocked the day before. I was wondering if this was planned. I had my money on it being planned, and it made me a little angry.

I found the kitchen after a half an hour of opening the wrong doors and getting a little lost, and I made myself a ham and cheese sandwich, I ate it quickly had some iced tea and then explored the house.

When I went to the bathroom to take care of my human needs I found a note on the bathroom counter. I narrowed my eyes at the pretty scrawl.

_Eric informed me you do not like trickery, I do apologize for this but please be ready by 9pm so we can head over to Fangtasia, and wear the red dress you bought yesterday. It will knock Eric off his feet. I got you some hair products and tooth brush and paste and some shampoo and body wash._

_Enjoy your day,_

_-Pam_

I crumpled the note up, okay, well I mean it was Pam. This was bound to happen so it wasn't that bad. I took my time showering and getting ready, so by nine o'clock I was heading downstairs with my hair curled, hanging around my shoulders and held back a little by a red headband, my makeup light, and the red dress hanging off me nicely.

"Pam?" I called out into the house, it took a few seconds but I heard her call back that she was in the dressing room, a room I had stumbled upon earlier. I remembered where it was so I made my way over, "I don't have any shoes."

She glanced up, studied me and the disappeared behind a shelf, coming back a few minutes later with a box. She handed it to me, and then went back to searching through the racks of clothes she had.

I sat down on a chair sitting just beside the door and opened the box to find a pair of gorgeous glossy black Louis Vuitton heels, I slipped them on my feet and stared at myself in the mirror on the door. I looked good.

"Thanks Pam!" I called out, having no clue where she really was. She appeared behind me in the blink of an eye. She was wearing a light blue dress with a black head band, her bangs were hanging down to her eyebrows and she had no makeup on except for some mascara.

"You look like Alice." I stated, smiling at her in the mirror.

"You look like Little Red Riding Hood." She countered, grinning at me. She grabbed a purse off of the table near one of the racks, checked its contents and pushed me toward the garage.

Pam's house wasn't too far from the bar and when we pulled past the front door I noticed the sign on the door said "closed to the public". "Pam, what's going on?" I wondered aloud. She gave me a look and simply smiled, pulling into a parking space and stepping out.

She was around the car in a blink opening the door for me. As I stepped out everything went black, "Pam!" I gasped, grasping the air to figure out where she was leading me, "Pam, what's going on?"

"Nothing, hush! We're trying to do something nice." She said, I heard the door open and my heels clicked across the floor. I knew we had now passed into the bar and I could finally see.

The bar was decorated nicely, balloon and streamers hung all around, and one by one I took in the faces in the bar, Jason, Sam, Jannalynn, Tara, JB, Bubba, Bill, and lastly my eyes fell on Eric who was dressed in a button up blue dress shirt and black slacks.

"Happy Birthday Sookie." Huh? It was my birthday? I pulled out my phone and sure enough the date read as my birthday.

"Thank you guys!" I had completely forgotten.

"Are you not happy?" Pam sounded concerned.

"No, no I am happy. I had just forgotten it was my birthday." I blushed, and Jason, Sam and Jannalynn laughed. I was surprised to see Jannalynn actually looked sort of happy to be here.

"Well then, let's get this party started." Eric announced, everyone looked at him and then we burst out laughing. Music filled the bar, and Eric crossed the room to take my hand and pull me into a dance.

Life felt normal, for once, I smiled despite myself and leaned up to give Eric a soft kiss, "thank you Eric, for everything. I love you." I whispered, knowing that the non-human occupants would hear me either way.

"You're welcome Sookie." He replied, leaning down to whisper in my ear, "I love you." He spun me around and I laughed happily, spinning into Pam who spun me around the floor as well.

Normal, I could handle normal.


End file.
